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CORRECTION: L-3 sued for trade-secret, product-info disclosure

By David Hubler

Jun 11, 2012

CORRECTION: This article has been updated. It originally identified the plaintiff as a Glen Burnie, Md., company. The actual plaintiff is a company in Bentonville, Ark.

Government contractor L-3 Communications Corp. and subsidiary L-3 MAPPS Canada are being sued for breach of contract and unauthorized disclosure of confidential and proprietary trade secrets and product information to a foreign entity and direct market competitor.

Vision Technologies Inc., a Bentonville, Ark., a certified small business that develops and markets highly specialized and technical camera systems, filed the complaint in federal court for the Western District of Arkansas in Fayetteville, according to a June 7 announcement.

The complaint states that L-3 MAPPS provided Vision Technologies’ engineering drawings and technical information to Kongsberg Maritime, a Norwegian company, which allegedly gave Kongsberg a competitive advantage and violated the terms of the confidential agreements between L-3 MAPPS and Vision Technologies.

Ultimately, Kongsberg sold its camera systems to L-3 MAPPS.

Vision Technologies alleges that the transfer of its technical drawings allowed Kongsberg to win a $1.2 million contract from L-3 for the Canadian Navy Halifax Frigate program, which L-3 MAPPS had previously committed to Vision Technologies.

Vision Technologies is seeking damages in excess of $2 million for lost profits as a result of the unauthorized release of its confidential information and the loss of the Halifax program contracts.

The complaint also seeks an injunction against L-3 Communications for any future use or release of the confidential information.

L-3 Communications Corp., of McLean, Va., ranks No. 8 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.

About the Author

David Hubler is the former print managing editor for GCN and senior editor for Washington Technology. He is freelance writer living in Annandale, Va.

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